There was controversy in India this past weekend on Twitter as “Akal Takht” trended on Twitter in India for hours on Saturday, May 7 2016 largely because of prominent Indian Congress Party supporters, including lawyers, journalists and authors promoting anti-Sikh sentiment in the country.

The Congress supporters took to social media to defame and insult the Akal Takht, the primary seat of Sikh religious authority. Tweets were made these high profile political figures claiming that the Akal Takht is “made of terrorist apologists”. Sikhs across the world were left outraged and also concerned about how the incidents which led to the 1984 Sikh genocide are viewed, especially by those in influential positions in India.

It was also claimed that Operation Blue Star, the callous attack on Harmandir Sahib (the Golden Temple) which was perpetrated by the Indian government in 1984 and prompted the genocide of thousands of innocent Sikhs across India, was “justified” and “ended terrorism”.

The tirade of abuse began in response to a tweet by journalist Hartosh Singh Bal, suggesting Rahul Gandhi should present himself before Akal Takht and apologise for the 1984 Sikh genocide.

Bal’s tweet prompted responses (which can be seen in the video below) from Congress supporters of note, including lawyers in India’s Supreme Court, journalists and those that work with the Party’s social media team. These personalities are of high profile in Indian politics and have represented the Congress Party in debates on Indian news channels such as NDTV and Times Now.

One concerned Sikh in India who wishes to remain anonymous stated, “Though abuses by trolls on social media are common and BJP, RSS trolls have also done it. But I thought of sharing this because these people are NOT usual trolls,” she said. “They are Supreme court lawyers, authors, activists who claim to speak against communalism, claim to stand for minorities and pluralism, preach tolerance daily but in case of Sikhs they do not hesitate even for a second to spit venom against entire community.”